Totem
by RobinRocks
Summary: EamesxArthur. "Dream a little bigger, darling," he says dryly. "It'll do you a world of good." Five prompts for jesusofsuburbia2o2o!


A birthday fic for **jesusofsuburbia2o2o**, who turns sixteen today and asked for ArthurxEames from the awesome movie _Inception_!

Ahhh, how old you make me feel. DX

Totem

**1] Travel**

"It could be the future, you know," Arthur says offhandedly. "If the technology was used to allow business associates and families to share meetings and vacations via dreamspace, the need to travel might be eliminated altogether."

At which Eames merely looks up over his drink and muses nonchalantly that sex in aeroplane bathrooms wouldn't be nearly as much fun if that became the case.

**2] Troublemaker**

"So you're saying," Eames reiterates boredly, "that I'm _not_ to, at any point in any of the dream layers, use the fact that everyone else is distracted by the mission to sneak up on you."

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Eames grins.

"Here's the thing, though," he says. "Disguises are my specialty. You won't even know it's me."

Arthur scowls at him.

"I mean it. This is serious business."

Eames rolls his eyes.

"Fine, fine," he sighs. "Just promise that you'll try your hardest to molest me when I'm out for the count in the hotel level with everyone else."

**3] Bubbles**

Arthur is such a slave to detail, to meticulousness, that it's no wonder he got nicknamed the Point Man; Eames finds his nagging about the need for care in the constructed worlds tiresome. After all, these worlds are possibilities as endless as bubbles and as easily created (even if they are as delicate, too). It's not as though he doesn't know how fragile these man-made spheres of existence can be, not when he and Arthur tread so carefully around one another for fear of breaking theirs.

**4] Experiment**

Eames sees Arthur run his thumb over the loaded die in his palm, checking its weight as only he knows how, as he approaches him, the sea splashing at his heels.

"I think we're still dreaming," he says, making Arthur look at him.

Pocketing his die, Arthur looks shrewdly at him, not offering any affirmation of the fact himself.

"And how would _you_ know?" he asks.

"Oh, I don't," Eames says airily. "I'll have to experiment to find out."

"That's what your totem is for, yes," Arthur replies coolly.

Eames simply smirks at him before grabbing hold of the front of his jacket and pulling him into a kiss. Arthur does not hesitate to kiss back, clutching at Eames' shoulders. Eames exhales through his nose and sighs, pulling back.

"Still dreaming," he says.

Arthur arches an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

Eames nods and slings an arm around Arthur's neck.

"If this was the real world," he concedes good-naturedly, "you'd have at least _tried_ to punch me in the face by now, love."

**5] World of Dreams**

"What would _you_ build?" Eames asks, folding his arms behind his head on the pillow. "What kind of world, Arthur? Cobb doesn't have much of a choice and neither does Ariadne, not with the way they're trained, but you're the one with all the information and no outlet for it. I know you've not much of an imagination but you must have some idea."

"I don't know." Arthur's reply is short, clipped. "That's a stupid question. What does it matter?" He sighs, plucks at the bedsheets and says again, "I don't know. That's why I'm not the architect. I can't build worlds – even with all I know."

Eames snorts impatiently and rolls over away from him.

"Dream a little bigger, darling," he says dryly. "It'll do you a world of good."

* * *

So honestly I found this a little tricky to write and I think I have to blame _Hetalia Axis Powers_ and the USUK pairing for it. The ArthurxEames pairing has very similar dynamics to USUK: uptight, cynical, sarcastic character coupled with act-first-think-later, cocky, teasing character; a Brit paired with an American; and hell, one half of each pairing even shares the name 'Arthur'. I think the difficulty I had, with regard to noticing the similarities between the pairings and not being able to shake it off, was that the personalities/nationalities are reversed. Eames, the British character, acts more like Alfred and Arthur, the American character, acts more like... well, Arthur. XD

NONETHELESS, jesusofsuburbia2o2o, I hope you liked it! I tried my hardest for you! =)

Happy sweet sixteen!

RobinRocks

xXx

P.S: As with Narroch: Here's yours on time. Where's mine?


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